[MissButtercup]

I am about to have a crack at making a rosemary ciabatta loaf and was wondering if anyone has any tips for a beginner bread maker?
I am going to have a go at this recipe - http://leitesculinaria.com/79221/recipes-ciabatta.html
What do you think? Recipe look ok? i was hoping just to add some minced rosemary and maybe garlic to this...
I'll make my biga tonight and bake the bread in the morning.

This post has been edited by MissButtercup: 23/01/2013, 07:32 AM

[Jax12]

Sorry I am absolutely no help but can I just say, drooooooooool. I am salivating at the thought of that ciabatta. Yum! It looks as though one of the biggest challenges will be to not overflour the dough. Good luck - I hope someone can provide some actual help.

[Sinister Bonnet]

Where are you in Australia, OP? Carol Field is one of the good ones when it comes to bread recipes and it looks like a good recipe except if you are in a sticky humid part of Australia, the biga may overproof very easily overnight. I'd be inclined to put the biga in the fridge overnight and bring out in the morning.

My slow rise bread and my ordinary bread are both misbehaving in the humid conditions.

[Alacritous~Andy]

My tips for general bread making:

- if you can, measure ingredients by weight, rather than by cups.
- don't add too much flour. If the mix is very sticky, keep kneading, it will come together and get less sticky.
- bake on a pre-heated pizza stone for an awesome crust.

I love Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's basic bread recipe. So easy.

[MissButtercup]

Great tips, thanks so much!

We're in Victoria - today's 38 degrees and 9% humidity, tomorrow will be 35 degrees so hopefully humidity won't be a problem.

Will have to google the suggested recipes too.

Keep the tips coming!

[mummy2amelia]

- if you can, measure ingredients by weight, rather than by cups.

+1


To prove the bread for the first time it needs to be in a warm place. I put it in a bowl with glad wrap over it and then put it into the sink filled with hot water. Be careful not to get water in the dough. this is good for the cold bit of Victoria I live in.

The only other trick I know is to brush really salty water on normal bread just before it goes into the oven to get a nice crusty loaf.

[bookmonster]

Use digital scales if you have them, the accuracy of the measurements can make a difference.

[Chelara]

I've made the no knead bread- the same a featured on that site. Let me say this, it's brilliant, easy and tasty and requires little effort, no kneading and has fabulous crust and a similar texture to ciabatta. I'd give that a go too if I were you. somewhere it says 2 tablespoons of salt- far too much. 1 or or a bit less is sufficient.

[TherophosaBlondi]

Use your car to do the risings. I did this while we were camping last week and the bread turned out very light and fluffy.

[AvadaKedavra]

Ciabatta is the hardest bread to make - if you have not made bread before, do not start with this one! It is a high hydration dough (the high water content bein what gives you the big holes). If you don't have a stand mixer, do not even attempt it as you will not get enough gluten development by hand kneading to support the high hydration. You also need to be an experienced 'folder' to get away with ciabatta - it is the process of folding (without bashing out the air) that makes the dough stand up rather than collapse flat into a pancake.

If you want a good first bread, I suggest Dan Lepard's basic wholemeal. It's
300 ml water
450 ml wholemeal flour
1 packet dry (not instant) yeast
50 g melted butter
1 tbsp salt

Mix yeast in water and let sit. Add flour and salt and mix until just combined. Squidge the butter through and turn onto an oiled bench top. Knead for ten sec and leave. Yes, ten seconds. After 15 min, knead for ten sec. After another 15 min, knead for ten second. After another ten min, pat flat then roll up tight like a jelly roll, tuck ends under, roll into shape. (Or drop 'jelly roll' into a loaf tin. Let rise until 1.5 times (on a 30 degree day, this may only take 15-20 min!). Put in oven at 200C fan forced or 220C no fan and bake for 40 min.

If you have a big cast iron pot, you can bake the bread in that for a higher rise. (Some people say to drop the bread into a hot pot, but I put mine in the oven cold; one of the lovely guys at 'The Fresh Loaf' (a breadmaking forum) did an experiment with hot vs cold cast iron pots, and found no difference.

Also, if you have a cast iron pot, look up 'artisan bread in five minutes a day' - a great way to make great bread, but doesn't work without the cast iron pot.